In dock for rape, BSP MLA accuses victim of theft

New Delhi: In a shocking case, an MLA of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has been accused of raping a minor and then falsely implicating the victim in a theft case.

As per reports Friday, the minor girl was raped by Banda MLA Purshottam Naresh when she approached him for help a few days ago.

The girl alleges that when she threatened to expose the deeds of the BSP MLA, he used his influence to get her implicated in a false theft case and leading to her arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

The matter came to fore when the girl got to meet her family members when she was brought by the police to the district court in Banda earlier this week.
"I was severally beaten by the MLA’s goons when I threatened to expose his deeds. He also said that I would rot in the jail if I exposed him,” the minor girl was quoted as saying.

According to reports the gram-pradhan (village panchayat head) of the girl’s village in Banda had sold her to someone and had been terrorising her father. The pradhan had also threatened her father with dire consequences, she alleged.

The girl had approached the local MLA with a request to save her from the clutches of the pradhan, when the latter took advantage of her situation and raped her.
Local woman activists in Banda have embarked on an indefinite fast against the police inaction and demanding the MLA’s arrest. “The MLA must be arrested forthwith and proceeded against,’’ said Devmala Kushwaha, one of the activists.

The opposition parties are also up in arms demanding action against the MLA.

However, Naresh has rubbished all allegations levelled against him by the girl, terming it as a “conspiracy by his political opponents to tarnish his image.”